Happy Birthday Dad & Rich!

Happy birthday to my dad and brother, who both celebrated birthdays this month. Dad/Grandpapa was born on the 17th, while Rich/Uncle Buck celebrated his birthday yesterday.

An Evening With Tito

As many of you know, I'm a huge Red Sox fan. This past Saturday I was lucky enough to meet the manager of the team, Terry "Tito" Francona. He was the guest speaker for the UVa baseball team's annual fund raiser. Meredith got me tickets to the event as a Christmas gift.

Thinking this was a somewhat fancy event, I put aside my championship hat and sweatshirt and actually got dressed up. Fortunately, I just happen to possess a Red Sox tie, so I was set. It wasn't that fancy, but it was worth getting dressed up purely for the compliments my tie got. We entered the auditorium along with over 900 other people, and immediately got in line to meet the 2008 Virginia baseball team. Everyone got posters, which each player signed as you passed through the line. After making my way through the line, Meredith and I spent a good 15 minutes looking for a seat. Most of the best seats near the dais were taken, so we ended up on one of the outside tables. At each seat was a UVa baseball T-shirt and a goodies bag filled with gum, Baby Ruth, and other baseball assorted treats. Dinner was also baseball/summer related - hot dogs BBQ pork, fried chicken, potato salad, etc. It was good, and since we were on the outer fringes, our table was among the first to feed.

After everyone ate, they started the program with a recap of the season and speeches by some of the college bigwigs. Terry was introduced, and shared some stories ranging from being the lucky manager of Michael Jordan's ill-fated attempt at baseball to the diminutive Dustin Pedroia swinging like he's David Ortiz. He then kindly answered questions from the crowd. Unfortunately, by the time I decided to raise my hand, they stopped taking questions.

Once everything ended, I joined the majority of the crowd by getting to the front and hopefully getting an autograph or picture. Fortunately I got both, as well as the opportunity to shake his hand and thank him for a great season. Yeah, this is definitely the coolest Christmas gift ever.